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iOS 11.3 is found to make aftermarket iPhone 8 displays unresponsive

The update apparently impacts the microchip powering the iPhone display

Apple hasn’t yet clarified the move

While iOS 11.3 brought a bunch of new features to enhance the user experience, the same iOS update is reported to make the touch functionality of the iPhone 8 unresponsive if it uses an aftermarket display panel. This newly reported issue certainly pushes iPhone users – once again – to opt for an authorised repair channel to fix their faulty handsets. In early 2016, the iPhone maker was found to use a similar move when it started bricking devices that were repaired from an unauthorised shop.

As reported by Matthew Gault of Motherboard, iOS 11.3, which was released late last month, gives touchscreen issues to iPhone 8 users who have opted for aftermarket screens. Gault notes that a third-party repairing source is usually cheaper than an authorised source and sometimes it’s the only effective option. However, Apple doesn’t encourage its customers to opt for a third-party source.

It is believed that iOS 11.3 is making the iPhone screen unresponsive through a microchip that powers the display. Third-party screen suppliers are said to have already worked out the issue by upgrading the chip. However, this process requires re-opening of the faulty iPhone. “This has caused my company over 2,000 reshipments,” Aakshay Kripalani, CEO of Injured Gadgets, told Motherboard. “Customers are annoyed and it seems like Apple is doing this to prevent customers from doing third-party repair.”

Apple hasn’t clarified whether the issue is intentional or accidental. Moreover, it is so far spotted that only aftermarket iPhone 8 displays are not responding to touch inputs after installing iOS 11.3. This means if you own an older iPhone model, you can opt for a third-party repair, if you so desire.

Importantly, this isn’t the first time when Apple is alleged to have affected the user experience of iPhones with aftermarket fixes. As we mentioned, company in February 2016 admitted it had started bricking iPhone models with third-party Touch ID repairs by showing ‘Error 53’. That issue was fixed with the release of iOS 9.2.1. “We apologise for any inconvenience, this was designed to be a factory test and was not intended to affect customers. Customers who paid for an out-of-warranty replacement of their device based on this issue should contact AppleCare about a reimbursement,” the company had said in a statement alongside the release of the error-fixing iOS update.

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